«I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me. I can make them hurt if I want to…«—Young Tom Riddle describes his magical skills
Magic is a supernatural force that can alter the fabric of reality at fundamental levels. The ability to use magic is a hereditary trait passed down from a person’s ancestors, which allows witches and wizards to practise witchcraft and wizardry.
The basic concepts of magic are fairly simple — even a two-year-old wizard can do some form of magic — but the inherent power and potential for misuse are great indeed. It is for this reason that promising young witches and wizards are sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or other schools of magic to refine their craft and learn the art and responsibility of their power. At Hogwarts, students learn a variety of magical specialties as well as general theory and the history of magic in their world.
Magic is unable to be performed by Muggles and Squibs. Their inability to perform is what sets Muggles apart from the wizarding world. As such, as a substitute of magic, Muggles use technology. In the same sense, many wizards are ignorant of the workings of most Muggle devices, including electricity. Both the Muggle and the wizard view their choice of tool as completely and utterly logical and ordinary, although each would find the other’s tools fascinating or even mysterious.
As per the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, wizards and witches must constantly hide their magic abilities from the Muggle world, and thus most Muggles are unaware that magic exists. It is possible that magic, should it be revealed to the Muggle world, could be treated as a fourth branch of science, along with chemistry, biology and physics.
However, in many ways magic does follow the laws of physics, specifically the Laws of Conservation of Mass and Energy. Vanishment does not make objects cease to exist, but, according to Professor McGonagall, «into non-being, which is to say, everything». Conjured objects can only exist for a temporary period of time, and objects cannot be enlarged beyond a certain point without becoming unstable and exploding.
The Dark Arts, or Dark Magic, is a distinctive brand of magic that’s often associated with maliciousness and the begetting of the most foul aspects of magic that may be outside the realm of moral comprehension.
Study of magic
«The finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world.«—Rubeus Hagrid praising Hogwarts
As magic is what governs the wizarding world, there are many people who make it their business to study the magical arts, as well as magic being taught to young witches and wizards. Main fields of magical study taught at the magical school of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are Arithmancy, Charms, Dark Arts, Divination, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration. Types of wizards with special magical abilities include Animagi (wizards who can turn into animals), Arithmancer, a Legilimens (one who can penetrate another’s mind), an Occlumens (one who can protect their mind from external penetration), Metamorphmagi (wizards who can change their physical appearance), a Parselmouth (one who can converse with snakes), and a Seer (one who can predict the future). There are also different forms of offensive/defensive magic, as well as the various types of spells: curse, hex, and jinx.
Arithmancy
Arithmancy is a branch of magic that is concerned with the magical properties of numbers; someone who practises Arithmancy is called an Arithmancer. For example, in the 1200s, Bridget Wenlock, a famous Arithmancer, discovered the magical properties of the number seven. An O.W.L in Arithmancy is required to apply for a Curse-Breaker‘s job at Gringotts.
Arithmancy at Hogwarts is taught by Professor Vector. In her class, students are expected to write essays and to be able to understand complicated number charts, which are part of their homework. Hermione Granger appears to be the only Gryffindor in her year who attempted an O.W.L in this subject (which is her favourite).
Charms
Charms are a type of magic spell concerned with enchanting an object to behave in a way that isn’t normal for that object. For example, the Summoning Charm brings an object to the caster. Charms is also something of a catch-all for spells that aren’t Transfiguration (spells that change the inherent nature of an object). In some sense, if a spell isn’t Transfiguration, it’s probably a Charm, or else a counter-spell or Healing spell.
A Charm might cause something to flash different colours. It might cause an object to levitate or even fly through the air. Charms can make a person laugh or dance or even create a bubble of breathable air around a person’s head. In all of these cases, the object or the person doesn’t really change, they just do something unexpected. Some Charms can be extremely powerful. The Fidelius Charm, for example, can completely hide a person or a place in such a way that no one can find them unless they are given the location by a Secret-Keeper. Memory Charms can be so strong that they completely remove a person’s memory or even damage his or her mind permanently.
Charms are in some ways the opposite of curses: Charms seem to have an inherent positive tone (e.g. Tickling Charm) while most curses have an inherent negative one. This is not to say that charms are weaker magic; a well-chosen charm, counter-spell or healing spell is a powerful magical tool against curses, jinxes and hexes. Professor Flitwick, the Hogwarts Charms teacher, was rumoured to have once been a duelling champion, after all.
Dark Arts
The Dark Arts differ from other forms of magic in the intent of the wizard using it. Most magic is relatively neutral — it can be used for bad or good. Some magic, however, is evil in its intention through and through. Spells of this kind are often called curses. Curses are spells that are often intended to cause harm to another person. This intention to do harm places that spell into the realm of the Dark Arts. However, simply casting a Curse spell doesn’t mean that a person is using the Dark Arts. Ultimately, the deep, true intention of the caster is what makes the difference.
This is a difficult distinction to make in many cases. However, understanding the difference between acceptable and Dark magic is of key importance for witches and wizards in training, which is why Defence Against the Dark Arts is such an important class for students at Hogwarts. Some other schools have a reputation for teaching the Dark Arts, not Defence Against the Dark Arts; Durmstrang is such a school.
Divination
Divination is magic which attempts to foresee future events. Many in the wizarding world consider this branch of magic to be imprecise at best. There are several types of Divination. The most imprecise is what is commonly known as «fortunetelling,» and this is what Sybill Trelawney teaches at Hogwarts. The second kind of Divination is what is practised by the centaurs. When Firenze the centaur started teaching Divination classes in the spring of 1996, he taught these techniques, although they were mostly lost on the human students in his classes.
The third type of Divination is called Seeing. This is true Divination, although what the Seer reveals is usually in the form of a Prophecy which then itself requires some interpretation. A Seer, one who possesses the Inner Eye, doesn’t seem to have control over their Seeing. Trelawney, for example, only made actual Prophecies three times, although she made plenty of claims about everything from troubles ahead for various students to Neville breaking a teacup. In each case when she made an actual Prophecy, Trelawney went into a trance and spoke in a completely different voice, and after speaking the Prophecy, she didn’t remember a thing about it.
True Seeing is very rare, but it has happened plenty of times over the centuries. There is a huge cathedral-sized room of the Department of Mysteries where records of thousands of Prophecies are stored in glass spheres. Each sphere is labelled with the initials of the Seer who spoke the Prophecy and the person it was spoken to and with the subject of the Prophecy.
Herbology
Herbology is the study of magical plants and fungi, including their care and their magical properties and uses. Some magical plants form important ingredients in potions, others have magical effects in their own right.
At Hogwarts, all students are required to attempt an O.W.L. in Herbology, so all first through fifth year students take the class, which is taught by Professor Sprout. Herbology classes are held in the greenhouses and include plenty of hands-on activities, including pruning alihotsy bushes, repotting mandrakes, and harvesting bubotuber pus. Students are also assigned essays as homework. Some time in the 2000s the post for herbology was taken by Neville Longbottom since before the start of the 2017 school year Ginny Potter told her son James Sirius Potter to give her love to Neville.
Legilimency/Occlumency
Legilimency, a branch of magic not normally taught at Hogwarts (at least, not at Ordinary Wizarding Level) is the ability to extract emotions, thoughts, and memories from another person’s mind. Although the word literally translates as ‘mind-reading,’ this is considered a naive interpretation of the art by its practitioners. Someone who practises Legilimency is known as a Legilimens.
Legilimency is easier when the spell-caster is physically near the target, and when the target is off-guard, relaxed, or otherwise vulnerable. Eye contact is often essential, so it is useful for a Legilimens to verbally manipulate his or her target into meeting the Legilimens’ eyes, with the fringe benefit that the target’s emotional state may bring relevant associated memories to the surface. All of this seems to tally quite nicely with what is known of the nature of human memory in Muggle science. The only known defence against Legilimency is Occlumency or the Protective Charm (Protego). The incantation required for it is Legilimens. Some well-known Legilimens are Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort and Severus Snape.
Occlumency is the art of magically defending the mind against external penetration, sealing it against magical intrusion and influence — the defensive counter to Legilimency. A practitioner of Occlumency is referred to as an Occlumens.
Occlumency is a necessary prerequisite to defeat a Legilimens’ lie-detector abilities without suspicious behaviour such as avoiding face-to-face contact and eye contact. Elementary Occlumency involves clearing the mind of thought and emotion, so that the Legilimens can find no emotional ties to memories that the target wishes to conceal. Simple resistance to attack requires similar skills to those needed to resist the Imperius Curse. In its more advanced form, Occlumency allows the user to suppress only feelings and memories that contradict what the user wishes a Legilimens to believe, thus allowing the Occlumens to lie without self-betrayal. Some well-known practitioners of Occlumency were Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape.
Potions
Potions are magical liquids created by mixing various ingredients in a cauldron according to very specific rules. These mixtures must usually be drunk to give their magical effect. The ingredients in potions range from the mundane to the bizarre and fantastic, and the procedures for creating some potions can be complicated and time-consuming.
Potions class is taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Severus Snape was the Potions Master at Hogwarts from c. 1980 to the fall of 1996. Horace Slughorn took over as Potions Master for the 1996-1997 school year. The Potions classroom at Hogwarts is located in a chilly, dark, and gloomy dungeon. This class is mandatory from years 1-5, but is only allowed at N.E.W.T.-level, if a student has achieved at least an ‘Exceeds Expectations‘ on their O.W.L. exam.
Transfiguration
Transfiguration is magic which changes one object into another. It is possible to change inanimate objects into animate ones and vice versa. Some Transfiguration spells alter a part of something, such as changing a person’s ears from normal into rabbit ears. At Hogwarts, Transfiguration was taught by Professor McGonagall from 1956 until at least 1997.[ Albus Dumbledore was the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts before her for at least 40 years.
Transfiguration spells were cast in ancient times as well. Circe, a witch who lived on the Greek island of Aeaea, was famous for turning lost sailors into pigs. The opposite of Transfiguration is Untransfiguration, which would be returning something to its proper form.
History of Magic
Many witches and wizards study the history of magic throughout time; they are known as magical historians, and History of Magic is also a class taught at Hogwarts. One of the most celebrated magical historians of all time is Bathilda Bagshot, author of A History of Magic, which chronicals the entire history of the magical world up till the end of the First Wizarding War. It remains a standard Hogwarts textbook for this study. The subject has been taught by Professor Cuthbert Binns since the 1700s till present day. The History of Magic is taken in the classroom 4F in Hogwarts.
Tea Break with Potter 